The task rule congruency effect in task switching reflects activated long-term memory.

Reaction time task rule congruency effects (RT-TRCEs) reflect faster responses to stimuli for which the competing task rules indicate the same correct response than to stimuli indicating conflicting responses. The authors tested the hypothesis that RT-TRCE reflects activated overlearned response category codes in long-term memory (such as up or left). The results support the hypothesis by showing that (a) RT-TRCE was absent for tasks for which there were no response codes ready beforehand, (b) RT-TRCE was present after these tasks were practiced, and (c) these practice effects were found only if the tasks permitted forming abstract response category codes. The increase in the RT-TRCE with response slowness, found only for familiar tasks, suggests that the abstract response category codes may be verbal or linguistic in these cases. The results are discussed in relation to task-switching theories and prefrontal functions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Abstract Stimuli Associated With Threat Through Conditioning Cannot Be Detected Preattentively.

Studies of anxiety suggest that threat stimuli can be identified preattentively, but this conclusion is questionable because of possible low-level perceptual confounds. Two experiments used visual search tasks in which abstract shapes were conditioned to carry neutral or negative valence. Experiment 1 found generally faster responses to threat-associated abstract stimuli but no evidence that they were detected preattentively, irrespective of trait anxiety level. A similar pattern was found in Experiment 2, in which individuals high in snake or spider fear showed no evidence of preattentive detection of abstract stimuli associated with their feared object. In contrast, implicit behavioral measures showed significant effects of conditioning, demonstrating that targets associated with threat were negatively evaluated in these experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response-contingent variation in visual recall: Evidence of a dynamic memory trace.

Conducted an experiment to confirm hypotheses derived from D. C. Donderi (1973) and Donderi et al (1970) that visual memory is sensitive to information in learned stimulus-response contingencies and to the delay in recall testing. 66 Ss (aged 19–26 yrs) learned responses to 4 ellipses that varied orthogonally in area and orientation. Correct responses were contingent on either area or orientation of the ellipses. Ss recalled the ellipses by drawing them. Findings confirm that there was a systematic change in recall memory along a stimulus dimension when values along that dimension were associated with responses that were learned to the set of stimuli prior to recall. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Observing and imitating the formation of object classes during the second year of life.

Used a pretest–posttest design with modeling and control groups to assess the impact of modeling on deferred imitation of groupings based on object similarity. 24 children at 3 ages (12, 18, and 24 mo) observed an adult produce class groupings and alignments of objects. By 18 and 24 mo, there was significant deferred imitation of object groupings. There was virtually no effect at 12 mo. Moreover, only at 24 mo were classified sets spatially aligned. Results indicate that observing adult classification will at least facilitate object grouping during the latter part of the 2nd yr, and that it may promote the use of spatial alignments as organizing devices or as modes of depicting object classes. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of enriched input on schizophrenic abstraction.

Closed ward, openward, and former schizophrenic patients were compared with nonschizophrenic patients. Ss gave abstract interpretations for single proverbs and for sets of 3 proverbs, the proverb sets providing an enriched input condition. Schizophrenics with mild and medium degrees of psychosis showed improvement in abstract responses with enriched input. Nonschizophrenic and severely schizophrenic Ss showed no improvement. When input was adequate, deficit in abstract responses disappeared entirely for the mildly schizophrenic Ss. Severely schizophrenic Ss showed deficit on all tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interhemispheric Interaction in Bilateral Redundancy Gain: Effects of Stimulus Format.

Previous visual laterality experiments have shown that identification is better when 2 copies of the same stimulus are presented--1 to each hemisphere--than when only a single copy is presented to 1 hemisphere. New experiments were conducted to vary whether the 2 stimuli on a bilaterally redundant trial were physically identical or identical in format in addition to leading to identical responses. Substantial bihemispheric gain was obtained even when the 2 stimuli were perceptually distinctive (e.g., letter trigrams differing in case and font or the same numeric quantity represented by digits and dots). Thus, much of the bihemispheric advantage involves relatively abstract aspects of information processing. However, when the formats were sufficiently distinctive, there were small effects on bihemispheric performance, suggesting some role for less abstract processes that are sensitive to physical characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judging nonverbal expressions of pain.

Examined the impact of pain-relevant, biasing information on judgments of the pain expressed in facial displays. 15 male and 15 female Ss (mean age 19.5 yrs) judged the videotaped expressions of females experiencing low, medium, and high intensity electric shocks. Ss were informed either that the shocked females had been exposed to a hypersensitivity or analgesic treatment, or the Ss received no prior information. The shocked females also had been exposed previously to either a tolerant social modeling or a no influence control condition, so that the impact of a social influence strategy on nonverbal expressions of pain could be examined. Sensory decision theory analyses of Ss' ratings indicated that the hypersensitivity instruction led to reports of greater observed pain in the absence of an effect on the ability to discriminate pain displays. Exposure of the shocked females to the tolerant modeling influence strategy dampened the pain display, making discriminations among the differing severities of electric shock more difficult. Results indicate that providing judges with information extrinsic to another person's distress can alter the severity of pain attributed to the other person. The discriminability analyses supported the conclusion that modeling influences are fundamental determinants of a broad range of reactions to pain, including nonverbal behavior. (French abstract) (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processes governing disinhibitory effects through symbolic modeling.

Examined alternative processes governing disinhibitory effects in a comparative evaluation of different forms of symbolic modeling. 11 male and 55 female snake-phobic adults (mean age = 28 yrs) observed approach responses toward snakes modeled either by adults or by young children, or they watched modeling that was irrelevant to their source of threat. The modeling treatments were equated for their informational value, but differed in motivational inducements and model similarity. Ss' autonomic responses were continuously recorded during repeated exposure to the modeled performances as an index of vicarious fear arousal and extinction. Results do not support the hypothesis that disinhibitory effects are mediated by generalization of model similarity. Although adult and child modeling produced comparable reductions in phobic behavior and fear arousal, correlational findings indicate that the similar behavioral outcomes produced by variant forms of modeling were mediated by different mechanisms. Changes accompanying adult modeling are interpretable in terms of a vicarious extinction process, whereas those resulting from child modeling are more attributable to motivational inducements. (25 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenic responses to the Proverbs Test: Abstract, concrete, or autistic.

Psychopathology was more effective in predicting autistic responses to proverbs of acutely ill schizophrenic patients than was intelligence as measured by the Wechsler Vocabulary subtest. Autistic responses decreased significantly from pre- to post-5 wk. of hospital treatment. There was no difference in the frequency of these responses between high and low verbal IQ groups, nor did level of IQ affect the decrease in autistic responses. These findings were contrasted with those of a previous study which showed that the traditional abstract and concrete scores of responses to proverbs were highly correlated with intelligence even with the effects of pathology statistically controlled, and did not improve with treatment except when IQ was above average. The present study further demonstrated that while autistic responses were negatively related to abstract scores, they were relatively unrelated to concrete scores. The overall findings were consistent with both earlier theoretical formulations and more recent empirical investigations regarding cognitive deficit in schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concept formation and concept shifting in frontal lesion and Parkinson's disease patients assessed with the California Card Sorting Test.

Concept formation and shifting abilities of 17 frontal lesion (FL) and 8 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients were assessed with the California Card Sorting Test. FL patients demonstrated a significantly greater number of perseverative responses and deficits in strategy planning, strategy initiation, and concept formation and did not benefit from abstract cues in comparison with their matched normal control (NC) participants. PD patients also demonstrated an increased number of perseverative responses under selected conditions in comparison with their matched NCs, but their ability to explain their sorts, to extract and express the sorting principles, and to sort with the help of abstract and concrete cues depended on their general cognitive status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stimulus repetition and encoding facilitation: Locus of the effect.

20 undergraduates were familiarized on patterns representing certain transformations of a prototype prior to a choice RT test to old (same) and new (different) patterns. Analysis of criteria for making same–different judgments indicated that Ss' remembrance was characterized by a knowledge structure based on the prototype and its transformations, rather than a list of the patterns to which Ss had been exposed. Same responses made to patterns highly congruent with the knowledge structure were found to be faster than different responses made to less congruent patterns. In contrast, speed of same responses to familiarized stimuli and different responses to novel stimuli did not differ. Findings suggest that encoding facilitation due to stimulus repetition is based on the information acquired from the familiarized stimuli rather than on the familiarized stimuli themselves. (French abstract) (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditional reasoning: The necessary and sufficient conditions.

Five experiments, with 163 university students, investigated 2 theories of conditional reasoning (CDR). The pragmatic schema theory posits that CDR is mediated by context-sensitive inference rules. According to the contextual cuing theory, inferences are based on a mental model that represents necessity and sufficiency relations. Both schematic relations and necessity relations predicted responses on a 4-card selection task. In contrast, after the effects of perceived necessity had been partialled out, schematic relations did not predict responses to either a conditional arguments task or a task in which Ss judged the similarity of "if then" and "only if" statements. Findings question the assumption that reasoning is mediated by schematic rules, which presumably apply regardless of task. A reconceptualization of the pragmatic reasoning schema is proposed. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Erectile responses among heterosexual child molesters, father-daughter incest offenders, and matched non-offenders: Five distinct age preference profiles.

Studied erectile responses to pictures of nude females ranging in age from 3–24 yrs in 21 incest offenders, 40 nonfamilial child molesters, and 22 non-offender Ss approximately matched on socioeconomic status (SES), intelligence, and age. Profiles of erectile responses, plotting percent of full erection over age of target stimulus, were drawn for each individual S. These profiles were sorted into 5 distinct profile shapes reflecting: (1) a failure to discriminate among the stimuli, or a clear preference for either (2) adults, (3) adults and teens, (4) children, or (5) children and adults. Nonoffenders primarily showed adult profiles, while incest offenders displayed either a nondiscriminating profile or an adult preference pattern. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit learning of semantic category sequences: Response-independent acquisition of abstract sequential regularities.

Through the use of a new serial naming task, the authors investigated implicit learning of repeating sequences of abstract semantic categories. Participants named objects (e.g., table, shirt) appearing in random order. Unbeknownst to them, the semantic categories of the objects (e.g., furniture, clothing) followed a repeating sequence. Irrespective of whether participants were instructed to attend to the categories (Experiment 1) or whether no mention was made of the categories (Experiments 2 and 3), naming latencies reliably increased when the repeating category sequence was switched to a random sequence. This was the case even for participants showing no explicit knowledge in reproduction and recognition tests. Results indicate that abstract sequential structures are learned implicitly, even if neither the surface stimuli nor the responses follow a sequence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual difference factors in the efficacy of Covert Modeling and Self-Instructional Training for fear reduction.

Analyzed the relationship between individual differences in cognitive mediational processes and the efficacy of 2 training strategies for fear reduction: self-instructional training (SIT), based on self-verbalization, and covert modeling (CM), based on visual imagery. 26 undergraduate animal-phobics were randomly assigned to training conditions. Measures included ratings of imagery vividness, visual imagery performance, and measures of cognitive styles. Results indicate that reliance on imagery or verbal strategies to cope with fear was important in predicting treatment effects. Ss who used imagery to cope with fear benefited significantly more from CM than SIT. The reverse occurred for Ss using verbal strategies to cope with fear. These effects were exhibited on both behavioral avoidance and self-reported fear measures. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of an operational game as a method of task familiarization.

A method of pretraining which consisted of practice on a highly abstract version of the test task was evaluated by experimental (E) vs. control (C) procedures. 10 Ss were used in each group. The E group received 5 hours practice on the abstract "game," and subsequently both groups received 6 hours training on the test task. The E group's performance was reliably superior to the C group throughout the 6-hour test task period although the difference gradually diminished. It was concluded that positive transfer in complex tasks is based on the practice of verbally mediated, central responses common to both pretraining and test tasks. From Psyc Abstracts 36:05:5CL01K. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The consequences of depressive affect on functioning in relation to Cluster B personality disorder features.

The authors examined the effects of depressed affect (DA) on functioning measured by behavioral tasks pertaining to abstract reasoning, social functioning, and delay of gratification in relation to Cluster B personality disorder features (PDs) in a clinical sample. Individuals were randomly assigned to either a DA induction or control condition. Consistent with clinical conceptualizations, the authors expected that Cluster B PD symptoms would be related to maladaptive responding (e.g., poorer delay of gratification) when experiencing DA. As hypothesized, many of the relations between the Cluster B PDs and functioning were moderated by DA (e.g., borderline PD was negatively related to abstract reasoning, but only in the DA condition). However, many of the Cluster B PDs symptom counts were related to more adaptive responses in the DA condition (e.g., less aggressive social functioning, better delay of gratification). The authors speculate that individuals with Cluster B PDs may be more likely to respond maladaptively to alternative negative mood states, such as anger and fear. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How level of processing really influences awareness in recognition memory.

Examined the effect of level of processing on awareness in recognition memory, in 3 experiments. In yes/no and 2-alternative forced-choice recognition tests, 64 young adults in UK reported 1 of 3 states of awareness when selecting each target: Remembering, knowing, or guessing. In Exps 1 and 2, Ss produced associates of the target words and recalled them after varying intervals of time. In Exp 3, the level of processing manipulation was replaced by a generate/read manipulation. In Exps 1 and 2, level of processing influenced remember responses but not know responses. In Exp 3, generating vs reading similarly influenced remember but not know responses. In each experiment, when Ss reported that they were guessing they showed no ability to discriminate targets from lures. Results show that remember/know findings generalize from yes/no to 2-alternative forced-choice recognition and that knowing is dissociable from guessing. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

L'apprentissage "preparé" de la peur dans le conditionnement de réponses physiologiques.

Conducted a study aimed at reproducing "prepared" learning effects with additional controls and at verifying M. E. Seligman's (1971) theory predictions regarding phobias and preparedness by integrating 2 physiologic responses, electrodermal and cardiac. Human subjects: 80 normal male Canadian adults (aged 18–32 yrs). Electrodermal and cardiac responses provoked by 4 categories of visual stimuli were compared: prepared (i.e., snakes, spiders); nonprepared (i.e., dental equipment, syringes); unfamiliar neutral stimuli (i.e., cells and abstract arts); and familiar neutral stimuli (i.e., flowers and mushrooms). Ss saw 8 slides at the familiarization stage, 32 slides at the acquisition stage, and 32 slides at the extinction stage. The latent inhibition phenomenon was controlled, and the effect of cognitive arguments on responses was assessed. An electric shock served as an unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS). Repeated-measures analyses of variance were performed. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)